At Any Cost
by Caligno Bot
Summary: Commander Shepard has assembled one of the best squads the galaxy as ever seen. As he goes to the Galactic Core to strike at the Collectors, he is shown just how ignorant he has been with his squad. The cost might become more than he bargained for.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Bioware owns the rights to the Mass Effect series and its characters.**

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**Omega Nebula, Sahrabarik System, Open Space**

**POV: Commander John Shepard**

"Joker, bring us to the Omega 4 Relay. We're ready."

I was standing at the galaxy map on the Normandy SR2, one of the most advanced ships in the galaxy. I had spent the last two months building up one of the most deadly and efficient squads the galaxy had ever seen. I smiled when I thought of all the people I had managed to bring on board. The journey had been difficult, but I could only look back with pride at what my team and I had been able to accomplish. Stopping the plague on Omega, helping the Quarians finish their research on Haestrom, stopping a Collector attack on Horizon, the list goes on.

I stepped backwards as Joker's voice carried across the intercom. _"Aye aye, Commander. We'll reach the relay in roughly thirty minutes. The Illusive Man is wanting to speak with you before we leave for the Galactic Core. I'd go see what he has to say before we go."_

I nodded, even though no one was around to see it, and stretched. The stress of the mission was starting to get to me. "I hear you, Joker. I'm on my way."

I walked into the Armory where Jacob was polishing one of our M-76 Revenants. He nodded at me half-heartedly as I crossed the room to the entrance into the short hallway where the briefing room was located. I glanced at him, but otherwise ignored the nod. I was set on finding out what The Illusive Man wanted with me before this mission went through.

The briefing room desk slid into the ground as the familiar circle of dim light appeared in the middle. The desk clicked when it reached floor level, allowing me to walk atop it unhindered. I did so, feeling the familiar lurch as I felt my perceptions change.

When the blur in my vision cleared, I noticed TIM standing, facing away from me towards the large sun behind him. I raised an eyebrow at this, as he had always been sitting when talking to me about my mission. I crossed my arms as I waited, knowing that he was aware of my presence.

Sure enough, he eventually turned around, his glowing cybernetic eyes piercing into my face. He took a drag from the cigarette in his right hand before beginning his speech.

"Shepard." He said to me, his face as expressionless as ever, his voice betraying nothing. He exhaled the smoke before continuing. "I wish I had more information for you. I don't like you going into the relay blind, but we don't have much choice." He took another drag from his cigarette as he waited for my response.

I laughed humorlessly for a second, not uncrossing my arms. "You know me. I like the challenge."

I saw a twinkle in the other man's eyes when I finished, which surprised me. I wasn't aware that those eyes could get any brighter than they already were.

He gave a small smile before continuing. "That's why I brought you back, Shepard. Always willing to take on the impossible." He paused, clearly searching for his next words. "Despite the danger, it's a great opportunity." He spread his arms wide towards the air, as if to accent his point. "The first human to take a ship through... and survive."

I raised an eyebrow at this. _Opportunity?_

I decided that questioning him on this would be a waste of time. Instead, I tried dry sarcasm. "I've got room on the Normandy if you're that eager to see it."

The Illusive Man's grin grew slightly, although the amount of humor shown within it was still zero. "A tempting offer, but it's not my place." He shook his head and took another drag from his cigarette. "I just want you to know that I appreciate the risk you're taking. Regardless of your opinion of Cerberus." He crossed his arms. "Of me. You are... a valuable asset. To all of humanity."

This surprised me. I was prepared to take the ship and anyone on the crew who would come along away from Cerberus' grasp after the mission was over if we ever came back, and I knew The Illusive Man wasn't stupid enough to assume that wouldn't be the case. You don't lead a secret organization for the amount of time he has without getting caught if you don't think of all the possibilities.

_Does he really care?_ I thought. _More likely he just doesn't want his several billion credit investment to amount to nothing._

I shook my head and focused back on the other man's face. His grin had vanished, followed by the usual expressionless stare. He sat down in his chair and exhaled the smoke he had inhaled while I thought to myself.

"Be careful, Shepard."

I nodded and walked out of the quantam emitter ring, cutting the connection. I walked back to the CIC through the Armory, this time completely ignoring Jacob. I was stopped by Miranda as I crossed the Galaxy Map on the way to the cockpit.

"I have to say, Shepard. I'm impressed." She had her left hand on her hip, leaning heavily on her right leg. Her face showed a mixed mask between pride and worry. "I must admit, I wasn't sure you'd be up to the task at first, but you've proven me wrong. We have some of the most deadly people in the galaxy on this ship, ready to fight and die for our cause."

I nodded, suddenly feeling weary from her words.

_We must win at **any** cost,_ I thought to myself with conviction. _Everyone must be willing to die in order to save the galaxy._

I shook my head out of my thoughts and turned away from Miranda. She took the hint that I wasn't going to respond and turned on her heels, walking back to the elevator. I walked the rest of the way to the cockpit and leaned over Joker's chair. I saw the Omega 4 Relay in the distance, barely a speck on the screen.

Joker noticed and looked up at me. "Twenty minutes, Commander. If there's anything more you want to do on the ship before we go, it's best to do it now. We might not get a chance to afterwards."

I nodded, picking up the intercom. "All squad members, meet in the briefing room."

I returned to where I had just exited from to notice Miranda, Jacob, and Mordin already there. I nodded to them and took the helm in the very back of the room, on the short edge of the rectangular table.

The rest of the team filtered in over the next minute. Thane and Samara first, then Tali and Kasumi. Jack, Garrus, and Zaeed entered the room last. The ten of them gave me expectant looks.

I leaned on the desk with both hands and looked down at the desk for a moment to gather my thoughts. I looked up a few seconds later, looking at the gazes across the room.

"We're going for it, people. The Reaper IFF is still Reaper technology, so there's no telling what it will do when we go through the Omega 4 Relay. We need to have a plan when we get through, in case the worst happens." The rest of the team nodded their agreement.

I took a deep breath before continuing. "We need to keep an eye on the drive core, make sure it doesn't do anything that could compromise the ship."

I looked up at the rest of the team.

"I can look at it from above," Jacob started. "The armory has a reinforced window that overlooks the drive core. I can keep an eye on it from there."

I nodded my approval and turned to the rest of them. "Someone else should keep an eye on it from the ground level as well, just in case."

Kasumi was the one to speak up this time. "I can do that, Commander." I turned to her. I could have sworn I saw her lip twitch, but I disregarded it. "There isn't very many things a professional thief can do for these types of things, so it's better I do watching duty."

I nodded and the two of them left.

Shaking my head, I continued. "Garrus, you're the gunnery chief, so you have control of the guns. I'd be damned if you weren't the best choice for it considering how many hours you've spent calibrating them." The turian chuckled at my lighthearted jab and left the room after Jacob and Kasumi.

I turned to Mordin next. "Go up to the Medical Bay, Mordin. We might need more than one doctor is things get really ugly."

Mordin nodded curtly and quickly walked out of the room, as was his norm.

I sighed and continued. "Jack, go down to Engineering with Tali and keep us notified of any damage along lower sections of the level. You know that section of the ship more than anyone. Tali, help Engineers Donnelly and Daniels as you have been."

After they left, I turned towards the remaining four squadmates in front of me. Zaeed gave me a slightly frustrated look, while Thane's was unfocused. Miranda and Samara gave their usual expressionless gaze.

"Miranda, as my XO, you're going to be up on the cockpit with me as we go through. If I'm needed anywhere else, you will keep an eye on things from up there."

I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall behind me. "Thane, Samara, it looks like you're getting a pass on this. Work with Kelly to keep the crew calm if they start acting up."

Finally, I turned to Zaeed. "No offense, but I don't trust you to be able to do the same thing, Zaeed." He laughed humorlessly and crossed his arms. "Your skills are entirely combat and leadership related, and I'm sure you'd only cause even more problems if I sent you with Thane and Samara," I continued. He only looked amused at my reasoning, but waved me off and left the room.

I began walking to the entrance. "Dismissed," I told the remaining three inside the room as I walked back out. Miranda followed close behind me as I trekked back again to the cockpit. Thane and Samara entered the elevator along with Zaeed, heading down to one of the lower levels.

The Omega 4 Relay looked closer when the two of us reached the cockpit. We waited several minutes while the relay got closer and closer.

I smirked when I began to notice the small rings circling the mass effect field of the relay. The red tint sent a chill down my spine and removed the grin from my face. _We're finally doing it,_ I thought to myself, the weight of what we were about to do finally hitting me all at once. _We're going to hit the Collectors where they live._ _I hope everyone's ready._

I swallowed my hesitation and grabbed the back of Joker's chair to strengthen my resolve.

"Approaching the Omega 4 Relay," Joker began, flipping the on switch of the intercom to let the entire ship know. "Stand by."

I straightened and clasped my hands behind my back. "Let's make it happen."

Joker smiled to himself and activated several controls, only allowing a small hesitation before hitting the switch to activate the Reaper IFF.

EDI's blue avatar suddenly appeared to the left side of him. "Reaper IFF activated. Signal acknowledged."

I retained my composure as my omni-tool lit up.

_"Commander."_ Jacob's voice rang throughout the room loud and clear. _"The drive core just lit up like a Christmas tree!"_

"Drive core electrical charge at critical levels." EDI's voice put a sharp pang of fear into my body, but I refused to let it show.

Joker began quickly activating several of the Pilot Terminal's controls. "Rerouting!" he exclaimed.

The Relay began to spin faster and faster as we began linking our drive core to the relay's mass effect field. Watching the blue light outside the ship signaling the presence of mass relay travel, I exhaled. I hadn't even been aware I was holding my breath.

_I'm ready._


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Bioware owns the Mass Effect series and its characters.**

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**Galactic Core**

**POV: Commander John Shepard**

The jump to the Galactic Core was fairly short, seemingly only a few seconds. I hung on to the pilot's chair as the Normandy SR2 exited the jump, unsure of what we would find at the other end. My blood ran cold when I found out what exactly we had just gotten into.

"Oh shit!" Joker screamed as he scrambled for the flight controls. We had landed in the middle of a dense debris field, undoubtedly from all the ships that had gone to explore the other end of the Omega 4 Relay in the past several thousand years. For a few seconds, I remained tense and afraid, but soon enough Joker let out a sigh of relief and leaned back into his chair.

"Too close," he said out loud, shaking his head. I stopped myself from chuckling. Joker wasn't considered the best human pilot for nothing. I held fast to his chair as he maneuvered through the field, looking for where the collector's might be holding their base of operations.

EDI's avatar suddenly popped up to the left of us. "We are being followed."

Joker began sending the ship back and forth, hoping to dodge any incoming projectiles from our mysterious attackers. We kept doing this for the next minute, occasionally taking potshots that were absorbed by the kinetic barriers.

I began to go into a cold sweat as I noticed our kinetic barriers becoming dangerously compromised with each hit, but Joker looked unfazed as he continued gliding the ship through the field to dodge the enemy fire.

Soon after, the ship rocked slightly, and I heard an explosion somewhere below me. I turned on my omni-tool and checked the ship's schematics. I gasped when I noticed a section near the bottom of the ship has lost life support. Only a small section of the engineering deck had been compromised, but...

_Jack._

I turned to EDI's avatar and screamed at her, "That's where Jack was. Did she make it out?"

EDI's response was immediate. "EKG has flatlined. She is dead." I gritted my teeth and slammed my fist onto Joker's chair in frustration.

_I walked the last few steps to the bottom of the engineering bay, where Jack sat on a box by her lonesome. She turned to me and stood up, her eyes darting back and forth as she grabbed her head._

_"Shepard," she said, beginning to pace across the small section of the ship. "I have thoughts like little bugs crawling in and out of my head." The biotic lady turned to me and shook her head, shuddering. "I looked through the files, found the location where I was tortured as a little girl."_

_I crossed my arms as she finished. "Jack, we can't afford to let things like this get in the way of our mission. You're stronger than this, I know that."_

_She glared at me and gritted her teeth menacingly. "I want to get a bomb and blow the place up. Don't take it away from me, Shepard."_

_I shook my head and turned around. "That's final, Jack. Don't bother me about it again." With that said, I walked away, leaving the seething girl in my wake._

I raised my head to see that we had left the debris field. I let go of Joker's seat, allowing myself to stand on my own two legs. I had just barely finished that when I heard another thud below us. Chills ran through my spine as Joker ran the diagnostic on his console.

Turning to me, he said "One of those things is down in the hangar bay. You should go take a team to take care of it before it does any more damage, Shepard."

I nodded and turned towards the CIC. "Miranda, stay here. I'm taking Thane and Samara down to the hangar bay to take care of it." Her perfect face nodded and turned back to the front of the cockpit as I walked purposefully to the elevator.

It took me only a minute to find Thane and Samara, who were both in the mess hall on deck 3. I advised them to put on their helmets and did the same myself before entering the elevator to go down to deck 5. We exited to the hangar bay to find a giant sphere flying around, making me groan. I slid behind cover and took potshots at the thing as it began shooting its energy beam towards where I stood.

Thane and Samara's biotics did very little against the eyeball, which meant we had to use our weapons to deal the damage. I ran out of assault rifle clips fast, so I switched to my sniper rifle. I ran out of clips there as well, sighing deeply as I pulled my pistol out. We had only barely dealt visible damage to it when it flew quickly out of the hangar bay, leaving the three of us alone in the large cargo room.

I held my hand up when Thane turned towards the elevator. "Thane, stop. It might be coming back. See if you can find any clips here, we might need them."

He nodded and the three of us scoured the room for thermal clips. I found a cargo contained filled with a huge amount of them, so we all loaded up our weapons and took cover away from the open hole in the ship, ready for any encounter.

Joker began speaking through my omni-tool. _"We're back in the debris field, trying to lose them. We're cutting it close, the barriers might not hold."_

I took a deep breath and hoped Joker's skill would be enough. I silently cursed him when I felt the ship rock slightly again. This was more subtle than when Jack was killed, which made me believe for a moment that everyone was fine.

EDI spoke over my omni-tool next roughly ten seconds later. _"The drive core was compromised. The damage was contained, but Kasumi did not survive."_

I gritted my teeth and groaned to myself, sliding down the container I was leaning on.

_The advertisement had just told me that she knew I was the real Commander Shepard, making me raise my eyebrow._

_"How would you know?" I asked, incredulous at her assertion, even though I knew it was true._

_She chuckled for a moment before responding. "You have an aura around you, Commander, like you've seen things other people wouldn't be able to handle."_

_I uncrossed my arms as I shook my head at the advertisement. Kasumi continued with, "I'm willing to help you on your mission, Commander. I'll let you know when the party begins so that you can fulfill your end of the bargain."_

_I took a step back in surprise. "Party?"_

_The girl in the advertisement shook her head in disbelief. "Cerberus didn't tell you? There's a party for notorious criminals sometime in the next couple months hosted by a Donovan Hock. I have to get my partner's graybox from him."_

_I nodded, but I was wary of doing it. The mission had to take priority, and I wasn't sure that handing myself over to some of the most notorious criminals in the galaxy was the best way of completing my mission._

_"Welcome aboard, Kasumi."_

I shook the memory out of my head and stood back up. Taking a deep breath to steady my nerves, I peeked around the box I was hiding behind just in time to see another eyeball enter through the same hole in the cargo bay as the last one. I unleashed my assault rifle rounds into the eye when it stopped shotting at the box I was hiding behind, and slowly the eye began to show signs of wear.

The onslaught continued for several minutes, but eventually it began to make a loud string of synthetic gibberish as it began to tremble harder and harder in the air. I took cover behind a cargo box that was less damaged than the one I was behind right before the explosion hit. Even though I was facing away and had my eyes close, I could still see the light on my eyes as the explosion happened.

After a moment, I slowly opened my eyes and turned, noticing only a small mess of various mechanical pieces. I sighed a breath of relief and walked towards the mess, shaking my head at what we had just killed.

_"Shepard."_ Miranda's voice filtered through my omni-tool, showing a sign of urgency.

I raised my fingers to my left ear and opened the transmitter on my omni-tool. "What is it Miranda?"

_"You should get up here. We've found the Collector base."_ Her voice went quickly, as if she wanted me to hurry. I nodded to Thane and Samara, running to the elevator. After a quick stop in Deck 3 to drop the other two off, I speedwalked through the CIC and took my spot behind Joker and beheld the sight in front of me.

A huge structure stood ahead of us in the clearing. The debris field we were in spread around on all sides, with a giant black circle behind the base signalling the location of the galaxy's center black hole.

I blinked. "Joker, how far away are we?"

His response took a minute, as he ran a scan on his console. "We're going at top speed and we'll make it in roughly ten minutes."

I shook my head in disbelief. The structure's shape was already noticable on the screen. If we were _that_ far away... I shuddered.

Joker activated another of the console's commands and gasped. "We've got another old friend coming!" I squinted, but didn't see anything different about the base except for the fact that it was getting slightly bigger with each passing second. Suddenly, I did notice what he was talking about.

The same collector ship that had destroyed the Normandy SR1, abducted the human colonies, and the one we had boarded was now coming for us again. I braced myself as it drew closer and waited. I gritted my teeth when the ship got close enough to begin charging it's energy beam.

"Joker, get in close. Point-blank, right down their throat!" I ordered Joker confidently when the first laser screeched to the side of our ship.

He wasn't fazed by the miss, as he began rapidly pressing a bunch of buttons and switches on the console, making the ship dodge around the next few laser shots effectively.

"Everybody hold on," Joker told us, still deep in concentration. We began getting close to the ship. "This is going to get ugly."

We dodged another laser that almost blew off one of the wings, making me gasp and lose my breath momentarily. The ship drew even closer, and I could see the laser charging again. Joker again drew away from the blast at the last second and began firing every cannon we had directly into the entrance of the ship. We dodged one more laser before skirting along the edge, still firing every cannon we had along the hull.

"Come on you miserable sons of bitches!" Joker screamed as we continued attacking the ship.

I exhaled in relief when I saw the ship beginning to explode in various areas. "Joker," I began, worried that the explosion would take us with it. "The ship's going down, we better get away from it."

Joker smiled and turned away, firing up the engines to full power. We zoomed away from the ship right as it began exploding, rocking the ship. I heard a loud slam from somewhere below me. I raised my eyebrow at Miranda, who turned on her omni-tool and began fiddling with it. She continued for a moment, but then her eyes widened. "They got Thane."

I clenched my eyes shut and slammed my fist into the back of Joker's pilot chair, feeling guilt.

_I faced down Nassana Dantius as she talked about bribing me to find out who wanted her dead. I rolled my eyes and raised my pistol again, causing her three Asari Commandos to do the same._

_Suddenly, I heard a thud from one of the sides of the room. I noticed that Nassana did as well, considering she looked around fearfully before sending one of her commandos to one of the other entrances to the room; one to the side that was very out of the way instead of the front door I came in through._

_I lowered my pistol an inch and looked around hesitantly, unsure of what was going to happen. I didn't have to wait long, as I noticed an alien species I didn't recognize slip down from the ceiling behind the three asari on the far end of the room. With little sound and no hesitation, he quickly grabbed the head of one of the commandos and snapped her neck, grabbing her gun to shoot directly into the other commando's chest, following it up with a strong kick in the stomach. She fell quickly, allowing the assassin to turned and press the gun into Nassana's stomach, causing her eyes to open wide in shock._

_One bullet later, he slowly lowered Nassana to the desk where she had been standing behind, placing her hands on her chest and lowering his head in prayer._

_I lowered my pistol in surprise, impressed with how quickly the spectacle had passed. I stood for a moment, then took a few steps forward to confront Thane._

_"Are you Thane?" I asked._

_He looked up at me. His face was bug-like, something I had never seen before. "I am he. I have been following your progress, wondering how far you'd go to find me." He walked around the desk, then stopped and held his arms out wide. "Well, here I am."_

_I raised an eyebrow. "We need you for a dangerous mission. You one of the best assassins in the galaxy, and we could use your help against the Collectors."_

_He turned around and laced his arms together behind his back. "The Collectors?" He lowered his head. "I've heard about them. I've also heard they've been abducting colonists." He sighed, then stayed silent for a moment. I waited to see if he had anything more to say. "This was supposed to be my last job." He sounded sad, as if retiring was all he wanted to do. He turned his head slightly, glancing at me through the corner of his eye. "I'm dying."_

_I crossed my arms as he turned around. He raised his arms in the traditional non-aggression pose. "It's not contagious, but that doesn't make it less dangerous. I have six to twelve months to live."_

_I raised an eyebrow. "That deadly?"_

_He nodded. "You're working to protect innocent people from a dangerous enemy. I understand your goals, and I'm willing to help." He nodded again to me, but then continued speaking. "I was going to find out what my son was up to, see what he's planning to do with his life. All this killing is for him."_

_I put my hand on his shoulder. "We're doing this to protect our colonists. We could use an expert in stealth assassinations."_

_He looked out the back window for a moment, then turned to me and held his hand out. I shook it firmly. "Then I will work for you, Shepard. No charge."_

_..._

_..._

_I walked into the life support section of the ship to find Thane sitting in the back, deep in his thoughts._

_He turned slightly when I approached. "Shepard. Do you remember what I said about my son when we first met?"_

_I nodded as I walked the last few steps to his side._

_"I've had a few of my contacts try to find him," he began, sounding shaken. "He's on the Citadel, following in my footsteps." He shook his head rapidly a few times, as if trying to rid himself of this memory. "He's trying to become an assassin."_

_I crossed my arms. "This is a bad thing? Like father like son, right?"_

_He shook his head and stood up, facing me. "I became an assassin because the Hanar needed me to. I've done many things I regret in my time. I don't want Kolyat to go through the same experience. Next time we're on the Citadel, we should find Mouse. He was seen talking to Kolyat." He had been looking down at the floor, but then looked back up to me. "Please, Shepard. I don't want to see my son doing this."_

_I nodded. "We're close to final preparations for our mission into the Omega 4 Relay. We'll make it out, and then I'll help you find your son. I promise."_

_He smiled, but the worried look didn't disappear from his eyes. "Thank you, but this is a suicide mission. Are you sure we'll make it back?"_

_I nodded back with complete confidence. "I'll make sure of it."_

I blinked and turned back to Miranda as the ship began to fly out of control towards the base. Joker was hastily pressing seemingly every button on the console to little effect. The ship flew through a few pieces of debris, causing only more damage to the hull. I held my breath in fear as we descended towards the surface of the base roughly. Luckily, our landing was relatively soft, but it still knocked us on our asses.

I stood up, groaning inside as I felt the effect of my body hitting the floor that roughly. Miranda grimaced when she got to her feet, but gave no other signs of pain.

"Well," she began in a sarcastic tone. "We all knew this was likely a one way trip."

I glared at her. "Our primary objective is to stop the collectors." I took a step forward, deepening my glare. "At **any **cost."

She nodded at me in her usual crisp self and I turned back to Joker.

"Well, we're off to a good start," he told me while pulling up the diagnostics of the ship on his console. "What next?"

"Call the ground squad," I told him briskly before turning around. "Tell them to meet me in the briefing room."

"Aye aye," he responded as I walked towards the CIC, Miranda hot on my heels.

* * *

**Normandy Briefing Room, 5 minutes later**

******POV: Commander John Shepard**

The eight of us stood in the briefing room shortly afterwards. Miranda and Jacob stood to the left side, both checking their pistols to make sure they were operational. Garrus and Zaeed stood next to them, looking at me expectantly. Mordin, Tali, and Samara stood on the other side. Mordin was staring at me, as confident as ever. Tali was nervously checking her omni-tool, while Samara stood on the far end of the room, giving everyone the same expressionless stare as always.

I put my fist on the briefing room table and faced them all. "This isn't how we planned this mission, but this is where we're at," I told them sharply, not willing to betray my true feelings about the situation. "We can't worry if the Normandy can bring us home. We came to take out the Collectors, and that means finding a way to take out this station."

I took a step back and crossed my arms. "EDI, bring up your scans."

A moment later, a schematic of the Collector base showed up in the middle of the room.

"You should be able to overload their critical systems if you get to the main control center here." EDI accented this information with a dot on a specific room on the station, marked by a line outside of the base.

Jacob stepped forward, activating his omni-tool. "That means going through the heart of the station, past this energy signature here." Part of the middle of the station turned blue, accenting what he was talking about.

I took a step forward and leaned forward on the table again. "That's the central chamber. If our crew or any of the colonists are still alive, the Collectors are probably holding them there."

Jacob activated his omni-tool again. "Looks like there's two routes to the central chamber. It's probably a good idea to split up to keep the Collectors off balance, then group in the central chamber."

Miranda shook her head and interrupted him. "No good. Both routes are blocked. See these doors?" She indicated two large openings underneath the heart of the base. "The only way past them is to have someone open them from the other side."

I shook my head and leaned forward further, this time on my arm instead of both my hands. "This isn't a fortress, there has to be another way." I smiled when I saw it. "Here, a ventilation shaft. If we send someone through here, they can open the doors and give us access to the central chamber."

Jacob grinned and crossed his arms. "Practically a suicide mission," he stated sarcastically, as if it wasn't one already. "I volunteer."

Miranda put her hand over her face and shook her head before turning to him. "We appreciate the thought, Jacob, but you wouldn't be able to shut down the security systems in time. We need to send in a tech expert."

Both of them looked at me, along with everyone else in the room who had been quiet up to this point. "It's your call, Commander," Jacob continued, this time directed at me. "Who do we send into the shaft?"

I looked down for a moment in thought, then turned to the left side of the room. "Garrus, you know how to keep yourself out of trouble. I'm sending you in."

He nodded confidently. "I won't let you down, Shepard."

I smiled at him before turning back to everyone. "The rest of us will split into two teams and go through the two entrances, hopefully keeping the Collectors from finding out what we're doing."

Miranda walked up next to me and looked at the rest of the squad. "I'll lead the second squad through the second path and meet you on the other side of the doors."

I nearly nodded, but was interrupted by Garrus. "I don't think so, Miranda. You might have the experience, but most of us don't even trust you."

She gave a frustrated look at him. "This isn't a popularity contest," she retorted back at him. "Lives are at stake." She turned to me for the next bit, the frustration still in her face. "Shepard, you need someone who can command loyalty through experience."

I turned back to Garrus. "Miranda's qualified to lead. Follow her orders and you all should be fine." Garrus nodded hesitantly, but gave no further interjections.

I turned back to the rest of the team. "Samara, Jacob, you're with me. The rest of you, get to your places. We go in five."

Jacob and Miranda saluted, while the rest nodded or prepared their guns. I followed the group out, taking my place in front of Samara and Jacob when we walked up to the right hand entrance. Garrus climbed a section of the wall leading to the vents, while the other four walked to the other entrance. Tali, Zaeed, and Mordin followed Miranda as the door opened, signalling the plan to begin.

I smiled as the door in front of us opened as well. I was ready to bring some payback to the Collectors.

* * *

**A/N: The change to Thane's canon was on purpose. I felt the conversation as you get him was necessary for the memory to have the right effect.**


End file.
